Cayetano allies skeptical as Atienza insists Speaker losing support

Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza claimed that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was "losing his grip" on the House of Representatives supposedly due to the House leader's continued defiance of the term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.

Atienza's claim was made over the weekend, days after the House removed 1-PACMAN party-list Representative Mikee Romero, president of the Party-list Coalition, as deputy speaker.

“Alan (Cayetano) has lost a lot of support [following Romero’s removal as deputy speaker],” said Atienza, pointing out that Romero wielded influence with the Party-list Coalition, which has 54 members.

Atienza added that PDP-Laban, the President's party with 65 members in the House, "will [also] be in support of Velasco."

“I am sure hindi hihiway ang mga political chieftains kay Presidente,” he added.

At the same time, the National People's Coalition, with 35 members in the House, was also backing Velasco as Speaker, Atienza also said.

“All he (Velasco) has to do is call the smaller groups,” he added.

Likewise, Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. said in a Monday ANC interview that Velasco may have the numbers to be elected Speaker.

"I think so. Because yung iba naipit lang," Teves said when asked if he thought Velasco could become speaker.

"Siyempre, ang daming natatakot na mawalan ka ng budget," he added.

Numbers

But Deputy Speaker Dan Fernandez, who is allied with Cayetano, said Atienza's numbers did not add up as there were members of the party-list bloc and other political parties in the House who declared their support for Cayetano.

These included Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor and SAGIP party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta, both of whom were from the party-list bloc, and PDP-Laban members Deputy Speakers Johnny Pimentel and Aurelio Gonzales who earlier signed a manifesto of support for the incumbent Speaker.

“I just find it ridiculous that Cong. Atienza is now saying that it would be an affront to the President if we don’t vote for Cong. Velasco, samantalang tinatawag nyang mga tuta at sunod-sunuran sa Malacañang ang Kongreso nuong na-deny ang prankisa ng ABS-CBN," Fernandez said.

"Yan ba ang Palabra de Honor na sinasabi nya? Yung pabago bago ang position?" he asked.

For his part, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte pointed out that Atienza, in his numbers, also counted the late Senior Citizens party-list Representative Francisco Datol Jr. who recently passed away.

"All this lying is bound to catch up with them sometime. Especially since we already have 190 real, actual, living members who have reaffirmed their support for the Speaker, and at least 30 more who have indicated that they will support Speaker Cayetano should it come to a vote following the President’s statement that he will not intervene in the choice of individual members," he said.

A total of 184 lawmakers voted to reject Cayetano's offer to resign last week.

Despite this, Velasco still challenged Cayetano to honor the term-sharing agreement and step down from the speakership on October 14.

Under the original term-sharing agreement, Cayetano would hold the speakership for 15 months and Velasco would take over to finish the succeeding 21 months. — DVM, GMA News